


(Family) Date Night

by die_traumerei



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Cuddling & Snuggling, Disney Movies, Eating, Gen, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 17:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18945694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/die_traumerei/pseuds/die_traumerei
Summary: This story is the opposite of anything that would ever be made into a movie. A bunch of Avengers get together and have family night where they play video games, eat pizza, and watch movies. They all get along and take care of each other, and they have fun bonding in a low-key way.Definitely kind of a throwback to what we were all writing in 2014.





	(Family) Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> To really get the spirit of the story, pretend that the title is actually 'Date Night' in elegant typeface, with FAMILY scrawled in sharpie and with a little carat under it and it's at an angle and now there's pizza grease everywhere.
> 
> Anyway, this is my circa-Winter Soldier Avengers emotional support fic, inspired by many Tumblr posts longing for such days. It was very, very fun to write and I hope you like it.

Bucky let himself into the apartment he shared with Steve, roses in hand and ready for a romantic night in. They were going to try a new pasta recipe. And make out a lot. Bucky was particularly ready for the make out a lot part.

It had been a couple of years since Steve and Sam had literally pulled him out of a river and brought him home. Bucky was happy; even when he had rough weeks like the last one had been, he was so happy. He was pretty sure Steve was too; that maybe they'd found a little joy together.

And it was kind of because of that rough week that they were having a date night, making time to reconnect and be in love. And Bucky's nightmares had faded again and Steve wasn't so deep in a hole of sadness, and Bucky was gonna surprise his best guy with flowers.

Or so he thought.

“Uh, hi honey,” Steve said when Bucky found him in the living room. Thor was on the other couch, hunched over his phone while Mjolnir rested on the coffee table. Tony was next to Thor, fiddling with DUM-E.

“Hi, Stevie,” Bucky said, leaning over to kiss his boyfriend hello. “Hey guys.”

Thor looked up from his phone, grin at the ready. “Bucky! It is good to see you again.”

“And you,” Bucky said politely, but also because it was true. Thor was good people. Gods. Whatever. “You know house rules, though.”

Thor looked appropriately abashed as Bucky picked up his hammer and set it in the corner next to the shield. No weapons on the coffee table; if Bucky had to obey, everyone _else_ had to follow Steve's dumb arbitrary rule with no basis in reality _too_. “It is not exactly a weapon,” he tried to protest, and Bucky looked down his nose at the God of Thunder and sighed.

“It can be, though, which puts it under Captain Tidy's house rules,” Tony said, doing a thing with a very tiny screwdriver. “Points to tall, dark and scary.”

Bucky sighed again. “Hi, DUM-E,” he said, and the little robot played a happy tune and waved an arm. Bucky held out his metal hand, and DUM-E touched it with another appendage.

“You don't play _me_ little tunes,” Tony said, gazing at his robot in sorrow and betrayal.

“That's because DUM-E likes me better,” Bucky said. “Don't you, honey?”

DUM-E made a single beep, and Bucky shrugged. He'd take that as a yes.

“Whatever,” Tony mumbled. “You're not even his real dad.”

Bucky gave the robot another little pat before gesturing to Steve to go into the kitchen with him, ostensibly to put the roses in water.

“Date night?' he asked sweetly, and losing their night together was definitely worth the way Steve blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“They just kinda...showed up? I think everyone kinda needs a family night?”

Bucky smiled and held out his arms for Steve to come in for a hug. “That's fair. We'll do something for us another time.”

“Another time _soon_ ,” Steve said, snaking his arms around Bucky's waist. “Like tomorrow. Please?”

“Of course.” Bucky kissed his cheek. “And you get flowers today. Love you, Stevie, til the end of the line.”

“Love you too, Buck,” Steve murmured, pressing his face into Bucky's neck for a moment. “Like rlb.”

“Everything okay?” Bucky asked softly.

“Uh huh. Just want to touch you,” Steve explained.

“We'll cuddle while we watch a movie or something,” Bucky promised, pulling away gently to finally put the flowers in water. “Who else is coming over, d'you know?”

Steve shrugged. “Whoever's around?” Fair enough - that was usually how these things went anyway.

 

Bucky went back out to the main room just in time for Clint's descent from one of the air ducts. He was only a little dust-streaked, which was very good for Clint. “Yo,” Bucky greeted him, and they fist-bumped.

“Hey man. Thanks for hosting Accidental Family Night,” Clint offered, because he was the only one of them with manners, apparently.

Bucky shrugged. “Eh, it's our turn, and we're all due anyways. Beer?”

“Aww yeah, thanks! Oh, and Nat's just grabbing something to drink, she'll be here soon and then I think that's everyone,” Clint said, ambling over to the very comfy easy chair. Bucky revised his assignment of who had manners, _he_ had his eye on that chair.

“Bruce'll be up soon, everyone else is out of town,” Tony corrected him. 

“Pizza it'll be, then,” Bucky decided. It was just _easier._ Cooking for all of them at once pretty much required an industrial kitchen, once you started working out portion sizes.

“Already ahead of you,” Tony assured him, waving his phone. “One extra-large per every superhuman and Clint, or per two regular humans. DUM-E'll go get them for us.”

“Thanks bud,” Bucky pointedly told the robot. The little trill of acknowledgement and Tony's expression thereafter meant Bucky cackled happily at himself the whole time as he headed into the kitchen to get drinks.

Nat had arrived by the time he came back to the living room, feeling not unlike the happy hostess. Steve and Thor had fired up a quick game of Mario Kart to kill time before dinner, and Steve was already a sore loser. Bucky loved him so much he kissed him, leaning over where Nat was perched on the back of the sofa. He delivered drinks around and settled in until Bruce arrived, and they could go share a joint on the balcony.

 

“Sorry, sorry I'm late! I had to do...a mathy thing,” Bruce finally settled on, after surveying his audience.

“Not late,” Bucky said cheerfully as Steve lost _again_ and Clint reclaimed the controller. “Jazz cigarette, doctor?”

“And how,” Bruce said, already considerably happier as he and Bucky headed out to the patio to smoke and watch the sun set.

“Lovely night,” Bucky commented.

“Mmm,” Bruce agreed, and they fell into comfortable silence, the sound of all their friends a pleasantly distant roar. Very distant. 

The pot didn't do much for Bucky, but he enjoyed what high he got, and the whole minutes of actual quiet time with Bruce. He hoped Bruce was enjoying the same, as a lovely summer evening descended over the city that glittered beneath them. He could just see the dark smudge that was Central Park, and the tall spires of other skyscrapers.

Pizzas arrived as they headed in, and Bucky retrieved his usual, a double Supreme with extra cheese. Family nights meant the usuals, for comfort's sake and just to make everything that much easier. Having occasionally been the guy ordering for up to twelve people with...interesting...metabolisms, Bucky strongly supported the 'you get your favorite, experiments are for when you place the order' rule.

 

“Weren't you supposed to have a date night with Steve?” Natasha asked as she stole a slice of Bucky's pizza. Well, technically she mumbled. Through a full mouth.

Natasha tended to leave something of a trail of destruction behind her on pizza night, but she also steadfastly left most of her half-pizza for anyone who might still be hungry. Bruce had once muttered something about various cultures and bonding and sharing food, and Bucky reckoned he wasn't wrong.

“I was,” Bucky said dryly. “Fancy that.”

Nat shrugged. “He's here. And instead – family date night!”

Bucky looked at her.

Nat made jazz hands at him.

Bucky decorously turned away, sat down, and accepted a Coke from DUM-E with a polite thank you. And then ignored how Nat perched up behind him and started to braid his hair. He never  _asked_ for a little sister, okay?

As hosts, Bucky and Steve were at least granted the power to choose what movie to watch, once all the pizza was cleared away, and Steve had actually beaten someone at Mario Kart, thus keeping his honor intact or something.

After short consultation, they decided on a double feature of  _Lilo and Stitch_ and  _Moana_ , and everyone settled in as quietly as they ever did.

(Thor tried. He really did. And as a fellow Very Large Man, Bucky understood the whole awkward journey to Sitting Quietly for Movie Night. But he also tended to pick movies everyone had seen fifty times before for family date nights, and so did everyone else, mostly because  _someone_ always inevitably talked over the good parts. The Avengers were not the quiet movie-watching types. Really, there was a kind of a constant running commentary, an unasked-for DVD extra if you would.)

( _Captain Ron_ nights had turned into exquisite artistic celebrations of absurdity.)

Bucky and Steve had snagged the loveseat a little off to one side, and Bucky didn't feel bad one bit. This  _was_ supposed to be a date night for them, and he curled up under a blanket, head and shoulders on Steve's lap for the cuddles he rightfully deserved.

“Hey there,” Steve breathed, soft enough that only Bucky would hear (probably). Bucky smiled when he felt Steve's fingers in his hair, combing the last of the loose braid out and rubbing Bucky's scalp.

“Comfy?” Bucky asked, tilting his head up for a moment.

“Uh huh. Watch the movie,” Steve murmured, moving his hand to rub Bucky's shoulder as they settled in in the dark room.

Bucky smiled and snuggled a little closer, nice and cozy in his blanket and with his boyfriend-pillow.

Bucky opted to be quiet tonight, feeling soft and safe and wanting to soak it all in. Except, of course, for the group chorus to 'Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind!' He  _had_ to join in on that, it was practically a  _law._

He felt Steve laugh, pure joy, and wriggled a little so he could hug Steve's legs. A slender hand squeezed his foot; Nat must have crept over to be nearby. He flexed his toes a little and felt her laugh silently.

Her hand stayed on his foot, and Bucky's whole heart and body glowed, and he hugged Steve's legs again. Nat forgave him, and loved him. Steve loved him. This whole found family loved him, and he loved them. There was nothing in the world better than this unexpected home.

 

Watching  _Moana_ was equally fun, and Bucky relished the feeling of Steve lost in the animation, his soft gasp here and there. Of course, they should have had different lives: Steve should have been an artist, and Bucky had been a pretty good clerk. Neither of them should be soldiers, for all they were good at it. But this was the hand they were dealt, and Bucky was getting pretty good about acknowledging it, and promptly refusing to let his past define him. 

(It had been a long road. He was rightfully proud of where he was now.)

The movie ended to find people sprawled over bits of furniture in various attitudes of repose. Clint was flipped upside down on the easy chair, and Thor sat gracefully, cross-legged, on the floor by him. (Mjolnir was still stacked on top of the shield, and Bucky was very grateful to Thor, after an unfortunate incident that had required replacing Sam's TV. And exterior apartment wall.) Tony was sprawled on the sofa, as was Bruce; the vast piece of furniture, intended to neatly fit two super-soldiers, meant they were only in contact at about their ankles. DUM-E sat politely by Tony. Bucky was pretty sure he had watched the movies too.

And of course him and Steve, snuggled together on their loveseat, with Nat now draped over Bucky, getting her own cuddles in. Bucky felt at the height of his brotherliness, knowing she was being held by Steve just as much as Bucky was.

 

No one lingered too long after the movie ended; just enough to help tidy away the pizza and set a few bits of furniture to rights. Then it was all sleepy goodbyes.

(Except for Tony. Tony didn't get sleepy, as far as anyone could tell, and Bucky was pretty sure he was going to his own bedroom only because DUM-E seemed determined to herd him there. Approvingly, Bucky gave the little robot a fist-bump with his left hand.)

“Game recognize game,” Tony announced, and was herded off.

Clint disappeared back up one of their air vents, because Clint, but everyone else headed back to their own apartments via the door, after thanks, hugs, and fist-bumps as preferred.

Steve closed the door after the last of their friends, soundly locked it, and turned around and laughed. “You don't mind family nights really. I know you.”

Bucky grinned and went over and into his arms. “Damn, I've been found out.” He molded his body against Steve's, face nudged into the crook of his neck. “We live together, I can see you anytime.”

Steve chuckled, because he was an old man at heart, which somehow still charmed Bucky. He was so gone on this man it was ridiculous.

“I really do want a date night with you tomorrow,” Bucky said, and kissed Steve's neck, since he was right _there_. “Please?”

“Of course. Oh, Buck. I want a night with you too,” Steve promised, still holding him, the two of them just standing in their foyer with jackets and umbrellas and things around them, like two big dorks. 

Bucky sighed happily, and soaked in home, before suggesting that maybe bed could be a thing. He wasn't ready to sleep, exactly, but they could snuggle in bed and open the curtains and admire the city at night. Talk or not, as they liked, until they  _did_ fall asleep, Bucky's head pillowed on Steve's chest.

He giggled when Steve picked him up in a bridal carry and took him to bed. “I'll make breakfast,” he mumble-promised, as his lover stripped him down and got him under the covers. Possibly Bucky was more ready to sleep than he'd thought.

 

Steve smiled down at Bucky, who'd conked out as soon as he settled on Steve in their usual snuggle-to-sleep arrangement. Poor guy – he'd had a week, and it was good he could start to catch up on sleep. He tucked a little hair behind Bucky's ear, caressing the soft shell of it while he was there, and admiring his best guy in...well, moonlight and the glow of light pollution, because city. Steve pressed a long, soft kiss to Bucky's forehead and settled in to sleep himself, soothed by the heavy body resting against his, that told him all was well and safe for the night.

 

**Author's Note:**

> 'like rlb' taken from/explained by this classic: [love you like rlb](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17584733)


End file.
